Revenge
by xXHereWeGoAgainXx
Summary: Scorpia want someone. They want Alex Rider and they know just how to get him. Can Alex save himself and the world or will Scorpia finally get revenge?
1. prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own any of Anthony Horrowitz's Alex Rider books or the characters. I do own cheese though, want some?

Prologue

_The cliff was steep and the climb was impossible. _

_Like most secret lairs Scorpia's hideout was built in a hard to reach place. The only way to get close was by flying and even then the gates were solid and could only be opened from the inside or from an explosion that would probably blow the whole place up and destroy all evidence of there ever being a secret criminal organization. _

_Inside a Chinese man sat on a __leather chair__ in half darkness. If you were to glance at him once you wouldn't think anything of him, but if you were to glance at him again a bad feeling would suddenly appear in the pit of you stomach. The horrible feeling had nothing to with his appearance, he was a neatly dressed, well groomed man, but his eyes showed a sternness and seriousness that could scare you to the bone. _

_A month ago another person would be sitting in the seat that showed pure power. The person was a woman named Mrs. Rothman but she had been killed recently and the Chinese man had stepped up to fill in her position. _

_Another man was standing in the doorway. His hair was grey and neatly cut. Thick glasses sat crookedly on the bridge of his nose. He wore a white lab coat over a blue striped shirt and neat black pants. His body was visibly shaking and it almost felt like there was something nervously fluttering in his stomach._

"_Is it ready?" The man in the leather chair asked. His voice had a thick Chinese accent. _

"_Almost Dr. Three…sir," the man in the doorway stuttered. Dr. Three scared him because he had power. All Dr. Three had to say was 'kill him' and he was literally a dead man. But he wasn't ready to venture into death yet and he was scared because once a person is dead they cannot come back to stay among the living. He had a wife and children. His children had left home and his wife was already dead but he still felt he had something to live for. _

"_You have one week to finish."_

"_Y…y…yes sir." The man walked out the door and quietly closed it behind him. He let a sigh of relief and went back to work. He was safe…for now. _

_Back in the office Dr. Three once again sat in silence. "Spend the last week of you life wisely Alex Rider," he said and smirked. Alex Rider was going to pay dearly for all the trouble he had caused Scorpia, for all the expensive planning that had been wasted and all the people's lives that could have been use to make and army. Oh yes he was going to pay… with his life._

Chapter 1: The Target

On the other side of the world the boy named Alex sat in a classroom. He had fair hair and deep chocolate brown eyes that had seen more than they should of. His head was cradled in his arms. His eyes were shut and his mind had drifted away from teacher's horribly boring speech. The monotone voice continued to fill the air until… "Alex!" The teacher yelled. The pitch of her voice was now higher and more painful. Alex's head shot up and the teacher walked towards him. He rubbed his eyes to get the sleep out of them and tried to wake himself up a little bit more.

"Sorry, I didn't sleep well last night," he lied. In truth he was still exhausted from his last mission.

Alex had no parents, they had been murdered when he only little and then his uncle had followed. His uncle Ian had died in a car accident almost a year ago, now he lived with an American girl called Jack Starbright in his uncle's house.

After Ian had died Alex's life had gone down hill. He found out that he had been lied to all his life and that his father and uncle had been working for MI6 and now he was involved. MI6 had black mailed him to get him to work for them. They had used him too any times. He came back from each mission with more scars both physically and mentally. Then Alex had managed to get himself shot by a sniper that was working for Scorpia, they were after him because he and his father had betrayed them and before he was shot Alex had found a way to prevent a deadly virus that would have killed hundreds maybe even thousands of children. While he was in the hospital he got caught in another adventure that ended in him going to space to blowing up Ark Angel and then landing a hundred miles off the eastern coast of Australia. His skin was still pealing because of the sun burn he had gotten.

"Well sleep better tonight or you will fail my class," the teacher yelled and went back to teaching the class in her monotone voice that had already put half the class to sleep.

Alex was sure she hated him. Her name was Mrs. Scott and she had arrived just after he had been shot. The rest of the school had been told he had it was an appendicitis; of course nobody believed his excuse. Most people in the school thought that Alex was a thief and the reason he was always away from school was because he was always getting in trouble with the police. Only his best friend Tom, Jack and another girl called Sabina knew what Alex really did.

Mrs. Scott had found out that he was failing and how much time he had taken off school because he was 'sick'. She had immediately decided that he was a trouble maker. Every wrong move he made she found out about it and he was punished for it, so even though Alex had barely been back at school for a week and he had already been in detention twice.

Alex looked out the window and once again his mind drifted away from the speech Mrs. Scott was making. Everything was against him, even the clouds. They had turned an angry grey. 'It's going to rain,' Alex thought glumly. The bell finally rang and Alex hurried outside to get his bike. He hoped that it wasn't going to rain before he got home. It would mean his clothes would get wet and dirty and he would have to put them in the wash. He was too tired to do anything other than sleep, breath and eat and he still had already had a pile of homework to do and on top of that almost a year's work he had to catch up on.

Droplets of rain made dark, round stains on the pavement and through the fair hair of a teenage boy. Alex Rider gave an angry sigh. Why was everything against him?

Ok, so what do you think? I'm open to suggestions.


	2. Sick

Chapter 2: sick 

Alex pulled the covers over his head and snuggled deeper into the warmth and comfort of the mattress. His bed was the only place in the world where he truly felt safe. MI6 couldn't bother him while he was sleeping. When he was in bed everything just felt like a bad nightmare.

Alex groaned as his alarm clock went off. It was like a dying animal shrieking painfully in his ears. He clutched his head as it started pounding and reached out of the warmth for the thing that was making the horrid noise and tried to turn it off. After failing to find the little button he stretched further out into the cold to turn it off at the wall. His arm retreated back under the covers and he tried to go back to sleep but ended up bursting into a coughing fit.

Jack walked up the stair case yelling at the top of her voice. "Alex! Get your lazy ass downstairs! Breakfast is ready!" She knocked loudly on his door and repeated her last sentence. Alex had only needed to be woken uplike thisafter he had come back from his supposed rest and relaxation vacation. 'It's that MI6 woman's fault.' Jack thought banging on Alex's door one more time. This time she received a groan and an incoherent mumble telling her that he was up. She went back down the stairs and started dishing out breakfast.

Jack looked at her watch and yelled, "Alex you have quarter of an hour to get ready and out of that door or you'll be late for school. Hurry up!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming," was his groggy reply. Though Jack sounded like a mother, she was really nothing like one. She was onlyin her early twenties and her room looked like a bomb had hit it. All Jack did was make sure Alex had enough to eat, that he'd done his homework and that he woke up in the morning.

Alex managed to get dressed and downstairs in the space of ten minutes after Jack had practically knocked his door down and now he sat in front of his breakfast. The food made him feel sick and queasy. "Is there something wrong with your food?" Jack asked noticing that he hadn't touched his food yet and instead was just sitting there with a this-smells-really-bad look on his face.

"I'm not very hungry," he lied and put the plate in the fridge for later. "I'm going to be late anyway," he added and moved before Jack asked any questions. He knew if he told Jack he was feeling sick she would kick up a fuss and make him stay home and he was already likely to fail GCSEs. He couldn't afford to miss any more classes no matter how sick he felt.

Alex grabbed his bike from the garage and biked slowly towards school. He had left early so thathe could bike as slowly as he possibly could towards school without being late because he felt like he was going to faint if he went any faster.

Alex sneezed and almost fell off his bike. He released the handlebar with his left hand and clutched his head because the sneeze had triggered a shot of pain to suddenly flow through his head. He was careful to keep an eye on where he was going and what everyone else on the pathway was doing so that he wouldn't bang into anyone or anything.

It was an awful day. The clouds had relieved themselves but were still hangingin the sky as if waiting for something or someone to tell them that it was alright for them to disappear to wherever clouds go when they're not in the sky threatening to drop a bucket of water on top of you just because they can. It was cold and most people outside were wearing big, long coats and hats on their heads to keep the warmth in.

Alex arrived at school feeling worse than before, his nose was running, his throat felt like snot was running down it, his headache had gotten even worse and he couldn't stop coughing. He walked into the classroom, dropped his head into his arms that were resting on his deskand tried to get a bit more sleep before the school bell rang.

His stomach was starting to settle down when someone sat down heavily in the desk next him, "Hey Alex!" Tom practically yelled into his ear. Alex groaned as his head exploded into another bout pain. "What?" Tom questioned.

"Tom do you think you could be quiet for five minutes?" Alex asked and then realized how mean that sounded and added, "Please."

"Ok, fine I'll leave," Tom said getting up off his seat and angrily walked towards the door. Alex felt guilty, he hated speaking to Tom like that but he was inno mood to talk.

Five minutes later the bell. 'It's going to be a long day," Alex thought as he sat up and took his books out of his backpack, 'a very long day.'

* * *

I know this chapter is short and strange.

Thanks to Lil Lupin who reviewed my first chapter.

R&R


	3. The Call

Sorry about the title for the whole story I'm not very creative.

Thanks for reviewing

**Boann- **Yeah I agree totally but it's just fun manipulating the characters. You type something and they have to do it (a step down from ruling the world).

**Sunny-** Here's chapter 3 sorry it took awhile I was away.

**Lil Lupin- **Thank you for reviewing both chapters!

* * *

Chapter 3: The Call

'This day cannot get any worse,' Alex thought. In first period he had been given a 1000 word essay on Romeo and Juliet and in second period the teacher had suddenly decided that they needed to learn trigonometry. Now he was sitting through a two hour lecture on how to clean an oven properly. To make matters worse he had Mrs. Scott next period. 'Well at least lunch is after that,' he thought trying to put a positive side to things but as soon as he thought of food the ill feeling in his stomach increased.

The bell rang and snapped Alex out of his trail of thoughts. He made his way slowly out of the classroom and walked down the hallway alone to his next lesson. Tom hadn't talked to him since his sudden outburst and Alex hadn't been able to find him to apologize. The feeling of guilt only added to the sick feeling.

Everyone was in their seats ready to get started when Alex half walked half stumbled into the science lab. Mrs. Scott was not impressed, "Get to my class on time. If you're late one more time I will give you detention," she said. 'Ok,' he thought, 'so I was wrong it could get worse.'

Mrs. Scott always kept her room extremely warm which only made Alex feel worse. He put his head down onto the desk willing the queasiness to subside and leave him in peace.

He ended up drifting off to sleep. "ALEX!" A voice screeched out of no where. Alex's dreamland slowly disappeared and in its place an angry, red face appeared. She didn't have to say anything all she had to do was point and Alex new exactly what she meant. She scribbled on a piece of paper and handed it to him. 'Oh joy, now I can explain every part of my amazingly fun day to a man who probably doesn't care,' he thought sarcastically and stuffed his books into his bag.

It took him a while to get to the principal's office, not because he felt sick but because he had to think up of a good excuse.

He nervously knocked on the door. "Come in," a voice on the other side said. Alex cautiously opened the door. "Ah, Mr. Rider what can I do for you? How are you doing with all the catch up work?" Mr. Bray asked. Alex handed him the note and watched him read it. Mr. Bray lay the piece of paper on his desk and looked up at Alex.

"Please take a seat," he said, it wasn't a suggestion it was an order. Mr. Bray gestured to a seat in front of his desk. Alex obeyed instantly. "Arriving for class late, falling asleep in a lesson and insulting a member of staff-"he never finished.

"I didn't insult her!" Alex's temper flared up.

"You will not speak unless spoken to," Mr. Bray said trying to stay calm. Alex went quiet and concentrated on restraining himself from yelling anything else. "Alex if you are going to continuously end up in detention there is going to absolutely no hope for your exams."

"I know," Alex said calming down when what Mr. Bray sunk in. He felt a tickling sensation in his throat and had to cough slightly to get rid of it. Mr. Bray didn't pay much attention and just started lecturing Alex about what would happen if he couldn't get into university (1). Alex unconsciously sniffed when his nose started running again.

"Please use a tissue," Mr. Bray said sternly and handed Alex a box of tissues. Alex pulled the tissue out of the box.

"Thanks," Alex said softly and blew into it. The lecture continued though Alex didn't hear a thing. The chair was warm and comfortable and he found his eyelids growing heavier and heavier. Alex willed himself to stay awake but it was like asking a fish to say alive out of water. The tickling sensation in the back of his throat suddenly reappeared and he found himself in another coughing fit. This time Mr. Bray noticed, he had heard that cough many times. It was the type of cough kids went to the sickbay with.

"Alex, are you feeling well?" he asked.

"I'm fine, I just um…I just…"He stuttered after his coughing had subsided. He couldn't come up with an excuse. Mr. Bray studied Alex closer. He saw heavy red eyes, a tired looking face and a runny red nose. He realized straight away that he would have to send Alex home.

"I'm going to have to send you home," he said scribbling on a yellow slip. He handed it to Alex.

"No I can't I have too much work to catch up on," He argued anxiously, "Please."

"I'm sorry Alex but we can't risk anyone else getting sick and your body obviously needs rest," his voice changed from the stern one Alex knew to a caring one that few had heard.

Alex reluctantly took the slip and went to the sickbay. From there the nurse would call Jack and get her to come and pick him up. Alex sat on a seat after refusing to lie down on the bed. He put his head in his hands and thought about the piles of work getting bigger and bigger and his grades getting lower and lower. He imagined the C's turning to D's and then to F's.

'It's not your fault,' a little voice in his head said.

'Then whose is it?' he thought back.

'MI6's, your fathers, your uncles, Scorpias,' the voice listed. Alex felt better knowing that it wasn't his fault. He had good grades before MI6 showed up, it was entirely their fault.

Jack arrived ten minutes later. He put his tenth tissue in the bin and followed her to her car. "Why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well?" She asked her voice was harsh but soft. Alex didn't answer, he didn't have the strength. Jack watched him get into the car, 'it's all that Mrs. Jones's fault,' she thought. To Jack all the bad things that had happened to Alex were Mrs. Jones's fault.

Jack sent Alex straight up to bed. Finally he got the blissful sleep he had longed for. He was back into the warmth and comfort of his bed. Back to a land where MI6 didn't exist and his parents were still alive. He wished that for once he could remember a moment –just a moment- with them.

"Alex?" A voice appeared from nowhere. It took him a moment to realize that it was from the real world. The voice belonged to Jack. "Alex?" she said again and this time she knocked gently on his door.

"Hm?" He replied from under the covers.

"The phone's for you." So once again Alex stumbled out of the warmth and opened his door. Jack looked angry and worried at the same time. He looked at her quizzically and then had a sudden thought. He wished he was wrong. 'This can't be happening,' he thought, 'especially not now.'

"Hello?" he asked cautiously. His throat was sore and his voice was croaky.

"Hello Alex…"

* * *

So what do you think? The chapter is a little bit longer. Please review. 

I don't know what people in Britain call university or college or something (I'm a New Zealander) so it would be much appreciated if someone could tell me.

Thanks again if you reviewed the last chapter.


	4. Armed

Chapter 4: Armed

-At School-

Tom had walked around the whole school as soon as the bell had rung. He was looking for Alex. He knew Alex had been looking for him and he knew Alex had wanted to apologies to him. Now Tom couldn't find him. It was as though Alex had suddenly disappeared, which was really quite normal for him.

Tom came to the science lab. He saw Mrs. Scott through the window but there was still no sign of Alex. 'Maybe she's done something with him,' he thought. He knew how much she hated Alex. He decided to knock on the door.

"What do you want?" she snapped. She was marking a test they had taken yesterday. Tom had wished he hadn't disturbed her now.

"Have you seen Alex?" He asked when he had opened the door. It had taken all his will power not to stutter.

"I sent him to the principal's office just before lunch," she said angrily, "the rude brat was late again and then he fell asleep in the middle of my lecture," she added to herself. Tom looked down at the paper she was marking. It had 'Alex Rider' clearly written on the front and next to it a big red D.

"Thank you ma'am," he said and quickly left the classroom before she noticed what he was staring at. 'The principal's office,' Tom thought, 'that's solved my mystery.'

Tom went back to eating his lunch. He could talk to Alex when he returned.

* * *

-At The Royal &General bank-

Alex was not surprised to be sitting opposite the man that had sent him on so many of the practically suicide missions.

"What do you want?" he asked coldly and stared daggers at both of them

"Scorpia are up to something. They know that you're alive Alex and they'll do whatever it takes to get their hands on you." Mrs. Jones explained. She wasn't happy about that fact that Alan Blunt had decided to get the boy involved again. He had been through too much already and it seemed unfair to get him to go through it all again. All Alan had said was, "Life's not fair." The head of MI6 seemed heartless sometimes. She just kept telling herself that it was to keep him alive and that if they found out where Scorpia were hiding the agent they would be sending in wouldn't be Alex.

"What are they planning?" Alex asked.

"That's the problem, we don't actually know. We don't even know where they're main base is. The only clue was their sign on a few robberies and when Scorpia steal it's usually to construct something. They never actually bother to buy anything normally," she replied.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked. The more words that were exchanged between them the worse he felt about being back in MI6's headquarters.

"We want you to be careful. It's very likely they're going to come after you. They never forgive or forget Alex. So we're going to keep an eye on you and make sure you don't get into any trouble. We'll get Smithers to equip you with a device so you can communicate with us and give you a few gadgets to help keep you alive and hopefully out of trouble," Alan Blunt said. His face was almost emotionless but when Alex looked harder he saw an emotion he couldn't put into words. It almost seemed like it was an obligation to help him stay alive, like he didn't really want to do it but was forced to.

"What makes you think I want your help?" Alex said stubbornly. MI6 wouldn't want to help him for nothing. He would probably end up in the middle of world war three or something. 'Oh joy,' Alex sarcastically thought to himself.

"Alex they will kill you as soon as they get their hands on you," Mrs. Jones said anxiously, "This is a life or death situation. It would be better to have bruised you pride than to be dead."

'She just doesn't get it does she,' Alex thought and then said out loud, "Why do you even care whether I live or die? Even if you did want me to live it would only be so you could use me again in the future," he was getting really annoyed now. He didn't want to be used again and he didn't think he had any room on his body for more scars and bruises.

Alex put his head in his hands. He felt like he was going to be sick and the headache wasn't helping. He didn't want to get involved again. The last thing Alex wanted was to get involved again. He needed rest.

"Alex this is for you not for us. Please just promise us you will take the stuff and stay safe," Mrs. Jones pleaded, "we'll stay out of your way and we promise we won't send you on another mission." 'Yeah right,' Alex thought but looked at her and he saw the honesty in her eyes. He turned to look at Mr. Blunt who was still wearing the same blank expression and saw nothing.

"Whatever," he said. Like everything else at MI6 the knock on the door was timed perfectly.

"Come in," Mr. Blunt said. Smithers waddled into the room. He was a large man, so large he only just managed to make it through the door. He sat heavily on the couch. There was a bag next to him that Alex guessed was full of his latest gadgets that were especially designed for him.

"Hello Mr. Smithers," Alex said happily. He was actually happy to see Mr. Smithers.

"Hello Alex. I hope you recovered alright," he said referring to the bullet wound Alex had received from Scorpia's sniper. "I have some cool gadgets for you. Do you remember just before we sent you off to infiltrate Scorpia I had a few things for you then?" he asked. Alex nodded. He remembered they couldn't give them to him because Scorpia would put two and two together and realize they had been tricked. They would kill him before he could found out how they were planning to kill thousands of school children.

The large man took out a pair of rollerblades. "All you have to do is press the button here," he said and pressed a flat green button on the outside of the rollerblade. Immediately blades shot out of wheels. "There is a lock on the back of the heel if you don't want to be caught out by someone bumping into you or something else like that," he said, "Also to retract them you push the same button. They'll cut through anything"

Next he took out a Rubik's Cube. "It used to be a hand grenade but MI6 didn't like the idea of giving it to you so instead it'll just knock whoever you want out for a couple of hours," he said simply. "You have to solve the puzzle for it to go off. It's not hard and I'm not going to show you for our own sake." Smithers handed Alex the cube.

"I also have a new backpack for you," he said.

"What does this do?" Alex asked.

"Nothing," he said, "it's just got a few hidden compartments to put stuff in." Smithers winked at Alex and he suddenly got what the meaning of 'stuff' was.

"That can be helpful," Alex muttered and took the backpack from Smithers. 'What great timing my old bag's falling apart,' he thought, 'now I won't have to buy another one.'

"And my personal favourite," Smithers said and pulled out a pencil case, "if you push the button on top of the pen three times and it shoots out tranquilizing darts, you know the pen you see in movies. The pencil is a tracking device and a microphone that can be turned on by removing the led. The microphone is in the eraser on the top of the pencil so don't break it. And last but not least the pencil sharpener, it's a video so we can see what's going on." Smithers handed the case to Alex. "They don't actually work as a pencil, pen or sharpener either so don't lend then to anyone," Smithers added.

"No gun?" Alex asked hopefully.

"No gun," Mrs. Jones answered sternly. Who would give a 14 year old schoolboy a gun anyway? Though Alex was no ordinary schoolboy.

"If anything comes up we'll find a way to communicate with you," Mr. Blunt said.

"Don't worry we won't get you involved. We'll just keep you out of their way," Mrs. Jones added quickly.

"Whatever," Alex said, "Bye Mr. Smithers."

"Bye Alex," Smithers answered and with that Alex left the room and headed home. He still wasn't happy about what was going on but it was the only way he was going to stay alive to even sit his GCSE's. He still felt awful. None of them had seemed to notice his constant coughing or any of the other things that practically shouted he was sick. He wasn't going to tell them anyway, they didn't deserve to interfere in his personal life anymore than they already were.

Alex walked slowly down the road towards home. He didn't bother having dinner because he knew he wouldn't be able to keep it down, even if he felt like eating. He just went straight back to his nice warm bed that he had been forced to leave so many times. He snuggled down into the covers and fell asleep.

Alex didn't wake till the next morning. He only felt a little bit better but lying can be useful when one needs to pass his or her GCSE's.

* * *

Thank you to **Lil Lupin** and **ShadowSpy** for reviewing!

This chapter sounded a bit cheesy but its all part of the plot (yes there is a plot). It is the longest chapter yet though. Well at least it has the most words but it's probably only because I ramble on at the end, look I'm doing it now.

Sorry for any grammar mistakes but being away from school so long is making me forget things. Year 10 this year, yay I have


	5. Three Days

Thank you for reviewing!

**Jumanji- **I hope this chapter has more detail. Thanks for reviewing!

**Lil Lupin- **I know it wasn't the best chapter. I agree, who would want to go to school? But I suppose if he failed all his exams then he would probably end up working for MI6 anyway.

**ShadowSpy- **There's going to be more about Alex's sickness later in the story. I hope you like this chapter.

* * *

Chapter 5: Three Days

"_It's ready," a man said. It wasn't the same man that had been there a week ago. Dr. Three had disposed of him after he had failed to complete the task he had set him. This man was younger but seemed to know more. He had neat black hair and a neat business suit. He was obviously wealthy and childless as well as wifeless. He had spent his life working and learning there was no time for women or anything like that. _

"_Good," Dr. Three answered and turned to face the man a gun in his hand. _

_BANG! _

"_Thank you for your help Mr. Ray," Dr. Three said. He pushed a button on the intercom, "get me in contact with MI6," he said. _

"_Yes Dr. Three," a women's voice come out of the speakers. _

_Dr. Three sat in his room. The sides of his thin lips curled up slightly. Everything was going to plan. Alex Rider would soon be in his grasp. He would finally get his revenge. _

* * *

A few days later Alex returned to school and he found a pile of work waiting for him when he got back. Mrs. Scott had given him a look that said 'I'm going to make your life a living nightmare,' but instead she said, "I want to see you after class."

Alex walked up to her desk as soon as the bell had rung. She showed him a test he recognized from a couple of days ago. A big red D was written in the corner next to his name.

"Next time study," she said and handed it to him. Alex left the room and ran to catch up with Tom.

"What did she want to talk to you about?" he asked Alex. Alex showed Tom the test paper. "Oh yeah sorry I should have warned you about that," Tom said giving Alex a nervous smile.

"So what have you really been doing the last few days?" Tom asked for about the fifth time that day.

"I told you I was sick," Alex answered.

"Yeah right, tell me the truth, please," Tom pleaded practically dropping to his knees.

"Tom I really was sick. Mr. Bray made me go home," Alex said. He really was telling the truth just not the whole truth. The last thing Alex wanted was for Tom to find out although he already knew Alex worked for MI6.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Tom had asked about a hundred more times where he had been the last few days and by the end of the day arrived Alex had gotten so annoyed given and told Tom could come to his house and tell him there.

Alex and Tom walked out of the big brick building at exactly 3:15pm. They got their bikes out of the bike rack and headed home. They stopped of at Tom's house so Tom could ask his mother if he could go to Alex's house for awhile. Tom's mother and father had just been divorced and at the moment he was living with his mother because his father had moved out of the country.

They were about a block away from Alex's house when they noticed the car following them. It was a shiny black Mercedes with blacked out windows. Alex hit the breaks and turned to face the car. The Mercedes stopped right next to him and Mrs. Jones got out.

"Scorpia's contacted us," she announced.

"Thanks for telling me," Alex said and started peddling again. He didn't care as long as he wasn't involved.

"I think you should hear the message," she insisted.

"Whatever," he mumbled.

"We'll see you at five then," she said. The worry in her voice was hidden by formality.

"Whatever," he mumbled again. Mrs. Jones got in the back seat of the car and gestured to the driver. The Mercedes drove off leaving Alex and Tom alone once again.

Tom and Alex sat in the lounge with the television on and cokes in their hands. When an advert came on Tom decided to take his chance and asked once again, "so where were you really?"

Alex told him about everything that had happened. He told Tom about the gadgets, about what MI6 had told him and even the fact that he really had been sick the past few days. Tom listened to every word Alex was saying. He loved hearing about Alex's mission. He always needed to know every little detail that happened.

Tom left at four thirty and after twenty minutes Alex left too. He changed out of him school uniform and into shapeless, faded jeans and a black hoodie with a loose blue t-shirt underneath it.

"Where are you going?" he heard a voice from behind him ask when he was about to put on his worn sneakers.

"Out," Alex asked knowing that Jack wouldn't permit Alex to go back to MI6.

"You said you were sunk with work you needed to catch up on. I didn't think you would have time to go out," she said suddenly suspicious.

"I just need some air," he said lying easily.

Alex had decided he really did need some fresh air and decided to walk. He felt wind ruffle his fair hair. It usually hung over his face and in his eyes. The wind was so strong it made its way through his hoodie and made him shiver. He stuck his hands in his pockets to keep them warm and out of the harsh wind and hung his head so it wouldn't make his eyes water.

It took him ten minutes to get there but for Alex the longer it took to get there the better. He made his way slowly up to Mr. Blunt's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in," he said. Alex opened the plain door and walked into the plain office. He sat opposite a plain man who sat in a plain chair behind a plain desk. Apart from the fact that Mr. Blunt was head of MI6 his life seemed well…plain.

Mrs. Jones had taken her usual space on the couch. She was sucking on another mint.

'Her breadth must be really bad if she has to constantly have a mint in her mouth,' Alex thought.

"Would you like something to drink?" Mr. Blunt asked.

"No thanks," Alex answered remembering that last time he had asked for coke it wasn't really coke at all but that over sweet stuff that tasted awful and only made him thirstier. "So what do Scorpia want?" he asked wanting to get out of there as soon as possible.

"You. They want you Alex," Mr. Blunt said his voice cold and serious, "They contacted us early today." Mr. Blunt took out a remote and pushed a button. A television screen suddenly appeared where a painting once was.

'They can't think of anything else,' Alex thought, 'what is this Charlie's Angels or something?'

"This is what they sent us," Mr. Blunt explained and pushed the play button on the remote. Suddenly a picture of a Chinese man appeared on the screen.

"Hello Mr. Blunt," the man said in a thick Chinese accent, "I am Dr. Three the new leader of Scorpia. You have probably realized that we have been stealing a couple of things from places all around the world. I've contacted you now to tell you why. We've made a bomb, a bomb that produces heat waves. What are we going to do with it? We're going to flood the world. How? By planting it in the middle of the Artic. When the bomb is set off it will melt the ice and turn it into water and well you get the picture. Millions and millions of people will die and the only way to save them is if you give us Alex Rider. We'll meet in three days on the helicopter pad. You know the one where Yassen killed Herod Sayle. Be there at 6pm or I will set the bomb off and only you and Mr. Rider will come or I will set off the bomb." The camera was turned off and the man's faced was replaced with darkness.

"Can't you track them down?" Alex asked trying to find away out of his situation.

"The signal came from several different areas around the world and all at once. There would be no way for us to get to those places in only three days," Mrs. Jones said. She looked at Alex. She wanted there to be another way around this but if they didn't get him involved then millions and millions of people would die before their time.

Alex didn't say anything. He couldn't say anything. He felt the pressure of the whole world riding on his shoulders once again and he hated the feeling. Alex knew what he had to do. "I'll go with them," he said. He had realized there was no real way out of this.

"Come back tomorrow for briefing at 6am. That'll give Smithers some time to see if he can make you anything that Scorpia won't notice. I'm truly sorry you had to get involved Alex," Mr. Blunt said. He didn't really sound like he was sorry.

Alex left the building and started his walk home. 'I hope there's no homework in heaven,' Alex thought. He knew why Scorpia wanted him. They wanted to kill him. He also knew he would have to tell Jack so he did. She was furious.

"Alex you can't!" she yelled at him.

"Jack you don't get it if I don't go they're going to flood the world!" he yelled back.

"But you'll die," she said the volume of her voice suddenly decreasing and worry filling it instead.

"You don't get it. If I go I die. If I don't go millions and millions of people including me will die!" he yelled.

"I'm sorry," she said coming to the same conclusion as Alex had come to when he was in Mr. Blunt's office.

"I'm sorry too," he said. He looked at her. Her eyes were filled with tears. Alex had almost been like a son to her. She hugged him tightly and let the tears fall. He hugged her back but couldn't cry. She buried her head in his the crane of his neck and let out a loud sob. She didn't want to let him go but she knew she had to.

Four hours later Alex was lying on his bed in darkness. He had set the alarm to go off at five thirty but he couldn't sleep knowing that in a few days he could be dead. He was scared.

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Updates will take awhile because I'm back at school and I don't have a lot of time to write plus right now I have major writers block and the stupid space bar on my stupid computer isn't working. Also I'm sorry for any grammatical errors.

I hope Dr. Three's plan makes sense.

REVIEW!


	6. Silent Goodbyes

Thank you for reviewing!

**ShadowSpy- **Really? Thank you!

**Deniche- **I'm glad you like it. I have to say it was fun making up ways to destroy the world. Thanks for reviewing and sorry it took so long.

What would happen if Dr. Three became unemployed?- On a sign: Will destroy the world for money.

And so the story FINALLY continues.

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Chapter 6: Silent Goodbyes

­Days came and went quickly while nights passed painfully slow. Alex met up with Mr. Blunt and Mrs. Jones the day after he found out about Scorpia's plans. He had been given two things. The first were contacts, they worked like cameras and made no difference to his sight but because they were so small the batteries only worked for twenty-four hours. The second thing was a sort of hair spray thing. The particles were some type of tracking device which allowed MI6 to know where he was anywhere in the world. The problem with the hair spray was that it would wash out if he had a shower or was out in the rain.

He went to school the day after to give everyone a silent goodbye even if it might not really be the last time he met them. Though there was a thin chance he would escape alive. He didn't tell Tom because he wasn't particularly good at keeping secrets. The last time Alex had told him a secret he had kept it for a grand total of two hours.

Jack had been hysterical the day he told her but now she almost seemed like a walking zombie. She seemed dazed. He guessed that in a way he was the child she never had. She was the person he went to if he was having trouble or if there was a problem he needed help with. She listened when he needed her to and stayed out of his business when he didn't want to be heard.

Two days later Alex found himself once again back at MI6's headquarters. It was 4:30pm and was in the process of being told of how the whole operation was to be planned. MI6 would let Scorpia take him and then wait until they were sure they could take over Scorpia's base before Alex was killed and without setting the bomb off.

"Alex?" Came a voice from outside Alex's thoughts,"Are you listening?" Alex suddenly realized that he wasn't actually listening to the conversation.

"Huh? Oh right," answered leaving his thoughts and returning to the real world.

1700

1715

1730

1745

1600

Alex headed up the stairs towards the helicopter pad with Mr. Blunt following silently behind. They had followed Dr. Three's instruction exactly as he had proposed them…well almost.

Alex opened the door. The sudden change of light made him squint slightly. The wind picked up and a buzzing slowly increased in volume. The helicopter finally landed and a man Alex guessed was Dr. Three got gracefully out.

The noise died down so they could continue the negotiation. "Are you going to come with us?" Dr. Three asked Alex.

"How do we know you're not going to set the bomb of even if we do give Alex to you?" Mr. Blunt said before Alex could even open his mouth to speak. The Asian doctor took his hand out from behind his back. His fingers were curled around a short, thick, black rode with a red button on the top.

"I will give you this if you give me Alex," answered, "Are you going to come with us Alex?" Alex nodded he had made up his mind on the first day. One person's life was less important than most of the worlds.

They made the trade. "Remember Blunt, we have to boy you strike or try anything funny and we kill him," Dr. Three said and then without saying goodbye got back into the helicopter with the same grace he had when he got out. Alex was shoved unceremoniously into the helicopter after him. He didn't feel too happy, who would. He was going back to Scorpia and this time he was a prisoner but what was worse was he had done it almost willingly.

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Stupid -cough- bloody -sneeze- writer's -sniff- block. I'm sorry it took so long I really couldn't write anything that sounded even remotely good and if you can't already tell I have a cold (even though it's summer). Sorry this chapter is so short and sorry for any grammatical errors.

Also for everyone who likes 'Who Knows' I'm half way through the second chapter so it should be up soon.


	7. Lies

Chapter 7: Lies

Alex didn't know where he was going because there was a piece of material blocking his view. His hands were handcuffed to a chair and his legs were tied together but with the lose of his sight Alex's other senses started to become sharper. He could just hear small conversations above the loud sound the helicopter made and he could feel when someone walked by him because the wind changed by just the slightest bit.

The helicopter started to prepare for landing. Again Alex was pushed harshly out of the helicopter. The cloth was removed and Alex was forced to squint. The sun shone brightly above them.

"Search him," a voice commanded, "and don't forget to check his mouth." Two men checked to see if he was hiding anything. They found a tiny camera, microphone and tracking device under his left ear. Of course MI6 knew that they would be found, that was the whole point. It would lead them away from anything else Alex was hiding. The men checked his mouth but to Alex's relief did not notice the contacts.

"We only found these," one of the men said holding the devices.

"Dispose of them and get the boy back into the helicopter," Dr. Three demanded. The man that was holding them dropped them and then stood on them. Alex was sure they didn't work now. A sudden thought came to Alex.

"Why are we going back in the helicopter?" He asked confused.

"You didn't think we would take you straight there, did you? If we did then MI6 would have been able to get your location," Dr. Three answered. It made sense now, Dr. Three had thought through things thoroughly. He had taken every precaution and looked at the situation from all angles.

Once again the helicopter took off and the blindfold was tied around Alex's eyes to blind him. He didn't know why they did this but it didn't help. They weren't only block Alex's sight but MI6's as well. They couldn't see where Alex was being taken so they couldn't follow and they couldn't make sure that Alex was alright.

Even if the blindfold was the camera wouldn't provide best picture. Every time Alex blinked, fell asleep or was knocked out they would only be able to black.

Alex guessed it was about another hour of two before they landed again.

The room around Alex was huge. There was no windows but many doors. There were a few guards and people in lab coats walking around. Alex took a good look around. He looked at the cameras that were all over the place and where the guards were stationed. A guard untied Alex's legs and another pointed a gun at his back. They ordered him to follow another guard that was in front of him.

Alex was pushed into a plain room with no windows. There was a small, uncomfortable looking bed in the corner but nothing else. The room was cold and the walls were solid. The door was thick accept for a window which gave the guards a good look at what he was doing.

They took the handcuffs off Alex's hands. They had left small red marks around his wrist but had barely cut through the flesh.

What was going to happen to him Alex didn't know but he knew that whatever it was wouldn't be good.

Alex cuddled up in the corner of the room to try and stay warm. His hands were freezing and his nose was running.

An hour later Alex was shoved roughly out of his room and forced into an office that he guessed was Dr. Three's. It seemed he was right, the man was sitting behind a plain desk. The rest of the room was as plain as the desk. ' Why is it that all the people I know like being plain?' Alex thought, 'it gets rather boring after awhile."

Two guards were holding Alex's hands behind his back so that he couldn't escape. Alex thought that they were probably pretty strong and wasn't planning on testing his theory. Something like that would probably end up in a bloody mess.

"You have caused Scorpia quite a bit of trouble, Rider," Dr. Three said, "and Scorpia don't like trouble makers. There is only one way to dispose of trouble makers and that is to kill them. I was only going to kill you but then I realized that it wasn't going to satisfy my need for revenge. I thought about ways to cause you pain but I soon realized that to you emotional pain is the worst type of torture. So I'm going to kill anyone that ever got close to you Alex. Mr. Blunt thinks he can stop the bomb but really he can't-"

"Cut to the chase," Alex butted in.

"I wouldn't be making comments like that when we have the lives of all the people you ever knew and loads more you didn't in our hands," Dr. Three answered calmly.

"So you gave Mr. Blunt a fake and now you're going to set the bomb off anyway to see me suffer?" Alex said trying to explain it to himself.

"Exactly," he answered. Alex did not say anything he just stood there glaring at the man with pure hatred. To Alex this man was not human, no, humans had hearts.

"Don't worry Alex, Jack Starbright, Sabina Pleasure and Tom Harris will not die in the flooding," the man said and then added, "I'm going to kill them personally, slowly and painfully right where you can see them withering in pain and hear their screams of agony. The worst thing about it Alex is that you aren't going to able to help-" Alex swore violently at the man. He tried to get his arms out of the guards deathly grip but could not.

Alex was pulled out the office and returned to the room he would probably spend the worst and maybe even the last days of his life in. Alex was forced once again to huddle up on the corner for warmth.

Bruises were slowly developing on his arms from where the guards had been holding him.

Time passed slowly and it seemed like days before Alex got to sleep but even then they were filled with all his friends screaming out in pure agony, pleading for him to help them but he couldn't move, something was keeping him from helping them. Alex's eyes flashed open and he sat up quickly, his breath coming in short gasps. He willed MI6 to hurry up before returning to the nightmare plagued dreams.

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I'm sorry it took so long I kind of got carried away with my other story but anyway. I hope this chapter was alright.

**RiderAlex- **Sorry it took so long. Thanks for reviewing!

**ShadowSpy- **I hope you like this chapter. I know it took ages. Well thanks for reviewing!

**Boann- **I can't wait till the movie comes out. Yeah not many people review this section and it does get you down a bit. I was going to continue it once I had finished 'Who Knows' but I changed my mind. Thanks so much for the review:)

Omg my cat just jumped on my computer, aww he's so cute with his big blue eyes I just don't have to heart to push him off.


	8. Come and Go

Chapter 8: Come and Go 

Alex coughed again, his eyes watered and his stomach ached. His forehead burned but his body was racked with shivers from the cold of the cell. That wasn't what he was worried about though, he couldn't stop thinking about what was going to happen to Jack, Tom, Sabina and potentially the world. It was all his fault. Why was it whenever someone was close to him they moved away or died?

Alex's thoughts were interrupted by the doors of his cell opening and the guard pushing someone in.

"Alex?" a young voice asked fearfully. It was Sabina, her eyes started to adjust to the lack of light in the room and she found him in the corner of the room, huddled up in his hoodie. A look of concern was clearly evident on her face. Jack was pushed into the room after and Tom soon followed stumbling slightly before totally losing his balance and landing rather ungracefully in a pile next to Jack.

"What's going on?" Jack asked trying to hide the fear in her voice. The guard had locked the door and disappeared once again.

"Alex?" Sabina asked again. Alex gave Sabina a look that said 'I'm sorry.' "What's going on?" She asked moving closer to the teenage spy.

"To put it bluntly, he wants to take over the world. He's going to almost destroy mankind so that he can have what he wants," he answered, the had a right to know.

"Well whoever he is," Jack interrupted, "is mad!"

"I prefer to think of it as total insanity," Alex answered, his voice hoarse and sore.

"We have to stop him," Tom said, removing himself from the floor.

"We can't do it alone but MI6 should be coming. I think they were using me as bait. They knew that if Scorpia could get their hands on something this big that they wouldn't give it up just for revenge. They'll find us," Alex said trying to reassure the others but could not bring himself to believe it. MI6 had used him and thrown him away too many times already, would they come or save themselves and throw him away for good?

"Well I'm afraid that I'm incapable of sitting still while the world is about to be destroyed!" Jack yelled at Alex.

"I'm-"he was cut off by a fit of coughing that only succeeded in making his chest ache even more than it already did.

"Alex?" the others questioned together.

"I'm fine," he lied. Silence followed and the three prisoners studied the boy in the corner. He hadn't moved since they had arrived and Jack feared that something was wrong. They were interrupted by the sound of the guards dropping to the floor and the door of their cell being opened by a dark figure.

Upon closer inspection Jack found the face to be a familiar one but could not put a name to it.

"Wolf?" Alex asked, answering Jacks query.

"You sound surprised, Cub," Wolf laughed, "you didn't think we were going to leave you here, did you?" Wolf joked and then laughed at the look that appeared on the teens face. "Alright so MI6 don't have the best reputation when it comes to you."

"Alright no more chat, I'm ready to get out of here and never look back," Jack interrupted.

"I second that," Tom jumped in, dusting the dirt off his pants. Alex swayed on his feet but caught himself before the others could notice.

"We have a team on the other side of the wall because we didn't want to have too many people in one area at once. It's too dangerous. If one group gets attacked the other gets the hell out and calls for help," Wolf explained.

"How did you get in here?" Tom asked excitedly.

"One of the guards is an undercover MI6 agent. He's organized a distraction, once we get the signal we're gone," Wolf answered, giving Tom a strange look.

"Wait," Alex said, rapping his arms around himself in a futile attempt to warm himself up a bit, "we can't leave now, it was a set up. We have to stop them."

"At the moment our main priority is to get all of you out but as soon as you're out we're sending a team in. The weather is too bad at the moment to send helicopters or planes out to find the bomb so we're going to have to shut it off from here.

'But this is my fault,' Alex thought to himself, 'I caused this, I have to stop it.' He felt Sabina shiver next to him and knew that her needs came before his. He pulled his hoodie over his head and handed it to her; she smiled weakly and put it on.

Jack glanced at the finger shaped welts on the boys wrists and forearms and frowned. She could tell that all of this had taken its toll on him. His movements were slower and he seemed less aware of what was going on around him, as if his senses were being dulled by something. She knew that something was wrong but also knew that he would continue to deny it until he had saved them but by then he could be too far gone to be saved himself.

"Jack?" Alex asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Huh?" she answered unintelligently.

"You zoned out," he said, "are you alright?" See there he goes again, never thinks of his own health, only others.

"Yeah, it's just..." she took a deep breath, "so much has happened and I think I'm only just really realizing now how much things have really changed. " It was partially true.

"Yeah, I guess so," he said quietly. They were now walking slowly down a dark corridor. A few guards had been knocked out making it difficult for the small group to make there way through.

"Hey, I have idea. Let's play a game, who ever can shut the hell up the longest gets to stay alive," Wolf said harshly, turning around to glare at the two of them.

"You really got to get me his number," Jack giggled softly. Alex gave her a look and her giggles turned into laughter that she unsuccessfully tried to smother with her jumper. After that Alex seemed to once again retreat back into his thoughts and she longed to talk to him again but knew that it was not the best idea, at least not while Wolf had taken up residency just in front of them.

Suddenly there seemed to be a wall blocking her path. She soon realized that it was in fact Wolf that she had just run into the back of.

"Sorry," she said, her cheeks turning red with embarrassment.

"Where'd Cub go?" he asked.

"Huh?" she said not making the connection.

"The kid," he answered.

She turned to look at the person who was supposed to be next to her. Said person had somehow managed to disappear in the few seconds she had been stuck in her own thoughts.

Alex was gone.

* * *

**A/N: **Well there it is…finally. I'm on holiday at the moment so I had the time to update. I was kind of confused with the beginning, I wrote it a while ago and my style has changed a bit since then, so I confused my self with some of the grammar in the first part of the story. Hopefully the next update will be quicker. Well, tell me what you think and here are some review responses for the last chapter I was surprised at how many I got, anyway:

**Carline:** Sorry I've taken so long but my computer crashed and I lost everything. Lol, yeah bad guys suck, aye. Thanks heaps for the review and I hope you like this chapter.

**FaeFolk: **Thanks for the review and sorry it took so long, I hope this chapter is alright it was a bit rushed because I'm just getting back on track with all my stories. Thanks again!

**The Dark Avenger: **My computers crap and doesn't seem to pick up on the small things but I will read through extra carefully though I'm not promising anything, I'm rather lazy. Thanks for the review and helpful hint.

**Mpro1:** Thanks you're the second person to say check my grammar so I'm going to try and make it better and read it through more. Thanks again!

**ShadowSpy:** ha ha yeah me and my friend have planned very thoroughly how to kidnap a group of extremely hot guys and then go and live on Mars so I'm used to making up this, it's a piece of cake, lol! Here's an update, thanks for the review.

Thanks again,

Erin

R&R


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